The World's Greatest Books - Volume 11 Part 1

The World's Greatest Books.

Vol XI.

by Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton.

Ancient History

GASTON MASPERO

The Dawn of Civilisation

Gaston Camille Charles Maspero, born on June 23, 1846, in Paris, is one of the most renowned of European experts in philology and Egyptology, having in great part studied his special subjects on Oriental ground. After occupying for several years the Chair of Egyptology in the ecole des Hautes etudes at the Sorbonne in Paris, he became, in 1874, Professor of Egyptian Philology and Archaeology at the College de France. From 1881 to 1886 he acted in Egypt as director of the Boulak Museum. It was under his superintendence that this museum became enriched with its choicest antique treasures.

Dr. Maspero retired in 1886, but in 1899 again went to Egypt as Director of Excavations. His works are of the utmost value, his skill in marshalling facts and deducting legitimate inferences being unrivalled. His masterpiece is an immense work, with the general t.i.tle of "History of the Ancient Peoples of the Cla.s.sic East," divided into three parts, each complete in itself: (1) "The Dawn of Civilisation"; (2) "The Struggle of the Nations"; (3) "The Pa.s.sing of the Empires."

_I.--The Nile and Egypt_

A long, low, level sh.o.r.e, scarcely rising above the sea, a chain of vaguely defined and ever-s.h.i.+fting lakes and marshes, then the triangular plain beyond, whose apex is thrust thirty leagues into the land--this, the Delta of Egypt, has gradually been acquired from the sea, and is, as it were, the gift of the Nile. Where the Delta ends, Egypt proper begins. It is only a strip of vegetable mould stretching north and south between regions of drought and desolation, a prolonged oasis on the banks of the river, made by the Nile, and sustained by the Nile. The whole length of the land is shut in by two ranges of hills, roughly parallel at a mean distance of about twelve miles.

During the earlier ages the river filled all this intermediate s.p.a.ce; and the sides of the hills, polished, worn, blackened to their very summits, still bear unmistakable traces of its action. Wasted and shrunken within the deeps of its own ancient bed, the stream now makes a way through its own thick deposits of mud. The bulk of its waters keep to the east, and const.i.tutes the true Nile, the "Great River" of the hieroglyphic inscriptions. At Khartoum the single channel in which the river flowed divides, and two other streams are opened up in a southerly direction, each of them apparently equal in volume to the main stream.

Which is the true Nile? Is it the Blue Nile, which seems to come down from the distant mountains? Or is it the White Nile, which has traversed the immense plains of equatorial Africa? The old Egyptians never knew.

The river kept the secret of its source from them as obstinately as it withheld it from us until a few years ago. Vainly did their victorious armies follow the Nile for months together, as they pursued the tribes who dwelt upon its banks, only to find it as wide, as full, as irresistible in its progress as ever. It was a fresh-water sea--_iauma, ioma_ was the name by which they called it. The Egyptians, therefore, never sought its source. It was said to be of supernatural origin, to rise in Paradise, to traverse burning regions inaccessible to man, and afterwards to fall into a sea whence it made its way to Egypt.

The sea mentioned in all the tales is, perhaps, a less extravagant invention than we are at first inclined to think. A lake, nearly as large as the Victoria Nyanza, once covered the marshy plain where the Bahr-el-Abiad unites with the Sobat and with the Bahr-el-Ghazal.

Alluvial deposits have filled up all but its deepest depression, which is known as Birket Nu; but in ages preceding our era it must still have been vast enough to suggest to Egyptian soldiers and boatmen the idea of an actual sea opening into the Indian Ocean.

Everything is dependent upon the river--the soil, the produce of the soil, the species of animals it bears, the birds which it feeds--and hence it was the Egyptians placed the river among their G.o.ds. They personified it as a man with regular features, and a vigorous but portly body, such as befits the rich of high lineage. Sometimes water springs from his breast; sometimes he presents a frog, or libation of vases, or bears a tray full of offerings of flowers, corn, fish, or geese. The inscriptions call him "Hapi, father of the G.o.ds, lord of sustenance, who maketh food to be, and covereth the two lands of Egypt with his products; who giveth life, banisheth want, and filleth the granaries to overflowing."

He is evolved into two personages, one being sometimes coloured red, the other blue. The former, who wears a cl.u.s.ter of lotus-flowers on his head, presides over Egypt of the south; the latter has a bunch of papyrus for his headdress, and watches over the Delta. Two G.o.ddesses, corresponding to the two Hapis--Mirit Qimait for the Upper, and Mirit-Mihit for the Lower Egypt--personified the banks of the river.

They are represented with outstretched arms, as though begging for the water that should make them fertile.

_II.--The G.o.ds of Egypt_

The incredible number of religious scenes to be found represented on the ancient monuments of Egypt is at first glance very striking. Nearly every ill.u.s.tration in the works of Egyptologists shows us the figure of some deity. One would think the country had been inhabited for the most part by G.o.ds, with just enough men and animals to satisfy the requirements of their wors.h.i.+p. Each of these deities represented a function, a moment in the life of man or of the universe. Thus, Naprit was identified with the ripe ear of wheat; Maskhonit appeared by the child's cradle at the very moment of its birth; and Raninit presided over the naming and nurture of the newly born.

In penetrating this mysterious world we are confronted by an actual jumble of G.o.ds, many being of foreign origin; and these, with the indigenous deities, made up nations of G.o.ds. This mixed pantheon had its grades of n.o.ble princes and kings, each of its members representing one of the forces const.i.tuting the world. Some appeared in human form; others as animals; others as combinations of human and animal forms.

The sky-G.o.ds, like the earth-G.o.ds, were separated into groups, the one composed of women: Hathor of Denderah, or Nit of Sais; the other composed of men identical with Horus, or derived from him: Anhuri-Shu of Sebennytos and Thinis; Harmerati, or Horus, of the two eyes, at Pharbaethos; Har-Sapedi, or Horus, of the zodiacal light, in the Wady Tumilat; and, finally, Harhuditi at Edfu. Ra, the solar disc, was enthroned at Heliopolis; and sun-G.o.ds were numerous among the home deities. Horus the sun, and Ra the sun-G.o.d of Heliopolis, so permeated each other that none could say where the one began and the other ended.

Each of the feudal G.o.ds representing the sun cherished pretensions to universal dominion. The G.o.ddesses shared in supreme power. Isis was ent.i.tled lady and mistress of Buto, as Hathor was at Denderah, and as Nit was at Sais. The animal-G.o.ds shared omnipotence with those in human form. Each of the feudal divinities appropriated two companions and formed a trinity; or, as it is generally called, a triad. Often the local deity was content with one wife and one son, but often he was united to two G.o.ddesses. The system of triads enhanced, rather than lowered, the prestige of the feudal G.o.ds. The son in a divine triad had of himself but limited authority. When Isis and Osiris were his parents, he was generally an infant Horus, whose mother nursed him, offering him her breast. The G.o.ds had body and soul, like men; they had bones, muscles, flesh and blood; they hungered and thirsted, ate and drank; they had our pa.s.sions, griefs, joys and infirmities; and they were subject to age, decrepitude and death, though they lived very far beyond the term of life of men.

The _sa_, a mysterious fluid, circulated through their members, and carried with it divine vigour; and this they could impart to men, who thus might become G.o.ds. Many of the Pharaohs became deities. The king who wished to become impregnated with the divine _sa_ sat before the statue of the G.o.d in order that this principle might be infused into him. The G.o.ds were spared none of the anguish and none of the perils which death so plentifully bestows on men. The G.o.ds died; each nome possessed the mummy and the tomb of its dead deity. At Thinis there was the mummy of Anhuri in its tomb, at Mendes the mummy of Osiris, at Heliopolis that of Tumu. Usually, by dying, the G.o.d became another deity. Ptah of Memphis became Sokaris; Uapuaitu, the jackal of Siut, was changed into Anubis. Osiris first represented the wild and fickle Nile of primitive times; but was soon transformed into a benefactor to humanity, the supremely good being, Unnofriu, Onnophris. He was supposed to a.s.sume the shapes not only of man, but of rams and bulls, or even of water-birds, such as lapwings, herons, and cranes. His companion G.o.ddess was Isis, the cow, or woman with cow's horns, who personified the earth, and was mother of Horus.

There were countless G.o.ds of the people: trees, serpents and family fetishes. Fine single sycamores, flouris.h.i.+ng as if by miracle amid the sand, were counted divine, and wors.h.i.+pped by Egyptians of all ranks, who made them offerings of figs, grapes, cuc.u.mbers, vegetables and water.

The most famous of them all, the Sycamore of the South, used to be regarded as the living body of Hathor on earth. Each family possessed G.o.ds and fetishes, which had been pointed out by some fortuitous meeting with an animal or an object; perhaps by a dream and often by sudden intuition.

_III.--Legendary History of Egypt_

The legendary history of Egypt begins with the Heliopolitan Enneads, or traditions of the divine dynasties of Ra, Shu, Osiris, Sit and Horus.

Great s.p.a.ce is taken up with the fabulous history of Ra, the first king of Egypt, who allows himself to be duped and robbed by Isis, destroys rebellious men, and ascends to heaven. He dwelt in Heliopolis, where his court was mainly composed of G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses. In the morning he went forth in his barque, amid the acclamations of the crowd, made his accustomed circuit of the world, and returned to his home at the end of twelve hours after the journey. In his old age he became the subject of the wiles of Isis, who poisoned him, and so secured his departure from earth. He was succeeded by Shu and Sibu, between whom the empire of the universe was divided.

The fantastic legends concocted by the priests go on to relate how at length Egypt was civilised by Osiris and Isis. By Osiris the people were taught agriculture; Isis weaned them from cannibalism. Osiris was slain by the red-haired and jealous demon, Sit-Typhon, and then Egypt was divided between Horus and Sit as rivals; and so it consisted henceforth of two kingdoms, of which one, that of the north, duly recognised Horus, son of Isis, as its patron deity; the other, that of the south, placed itself under the supreme protection of Sit-Nubiti, the G.o.d of Ombos.

Elaborate and intricate and hopelessly confused are the fables relating to the Osirian embalmment, and to the opening of the kingdom of Osiris to the followers of Horus. Souls did not enter it without examination and trial, as it is the aim of the famous Book of the Dead to show.

Before gaining access to this paradise each of them had to prove that it had during earthly life belonged to a friend or to a va.s.sal of Osiris, and had served Horus in his exile, and had rallied to his banner from the very beginning of the Typhonian wars.

To Menes of Thinis tradition ascribes the honour of fusing the two Egypts into one empire, and of inaugurating the reign of the human dynasties. But all we know of this first of the Pharaohs, beyond his existence, is practically nothing, and the stories related of him are mere legends. The real history of the early centuries eludes our researches. The history as we have it is divided into three periods: 1.

The Memphite period, which is usually called the "Ancient Empire," from the First to the Tenth dynasty: kings of Memphite origin were rulers over the whole of Egypt during the greater part of this epoch. 2. The Theban period, from the Eleventh to the Twentieth dynasty. It is divided into two parts by the invasion of the Shepherds (Sixteenth dynasty). 3.

Saite period, from the Twenty-first to the Thirtieth dynasty, divided again into two parts by the Persian Conquest, the first Saite period, from the Twenty-first to the Twenty-sixth dynasty; the second Saite Period, from the Twenty-eighth to the Thirtieth dynasty.

_IV.--Political Const.i.tution of Egypt_

Between the Fayum and the apex of the Delta, the Libyan range expands and forms a vast and slightly undulating table-land, which runs parallel to the Nile for nearly thirty leagues. The great Sphinx Harmakhis has mounted guard over its northern extremity ever since the time of the followers of Horus. In later times, a chapel of alabaster and rose granite was erected alongside the G.o.d; temples were built here and there in the more accessible places, and round these were grouped the tombs of the whole country. The bodies of the common people, usually naked and uncoffined, were thrust into the sand at a depth of barely three feet from the surface. Those of the better cla.s.s rested in mean rectangular chambers, hastily built of yellow bricks, without ornaments or treasures; a few vessels, however, of coa.r.s.e pottery contained the provisions left to nourish the departed during the period of his existence. Some of the wealthy cla.s.s had their tombs cut out of the mountain-side; but the great majority preferred an isolated tomb, a "mastaba," comprised of a chapel above ground, a shaft, and some subterranean vaults.

During the course of centuries, the ever-increasing number of tombs formed an almost uninterrupted chain, are rich in inscriptions, statues, and in painted or sculptured scenes, and from the womb, as it were, of these cemeteries, the Egypt of the Memphite dynasties gradually takes new life and reappears in the full daylight of history. The king stands out boldly in the foreground, and his tall figure towers over all else.

He is G.o.d to his subjects, who call him "the good-G.o.d," and "the great-G.o.d," connecting him with Ra through the intervening kings. So the Pharaohs are blood relations of the sun-G.o.d, the "divine double" being infused into the royal infant at birth.

The monuments throw full light on the supernatural character of the Pharaohs in general, but tell us little of the individual disposition of any king in particular, or of their everyday life. The royal family was very numerous. At least one of the many women of the harem received the t.i.tle of "great spouse," or queen. Her union with the G.o.d-king rendered her a G.o.ddess. Children swarmed in the palace, as in the houses of private citizens, and they were constantly jealous of each other, having no bond of union except common hatred of the son whom the chances of birth had destined to be their ruler.

Highly complex degrees of rank are revealed to us on the monuments of the people who immediately surrounded the Pharaoh. His person was, as it were, minutely subdivided into compartments, each requiring its attendants and their appointed chiefs. His toilet alone gave employment to a score of different trades. The guardians.h.i.+p of the crowns almost approached the dignity of a priesthood, for was not the urseus, which adorned each one, a living G.o.ddess? Troops of musicians, singers, dancers, buffoons and dwarfs whiled away the tedious hours. Many were the physicians, chaplains, soothsayers and magicians. But vast indeed was the army of officials connected with the administration of public affairs. The mainspring of all this machinery was the writer, or, as we call him, the scribe, across whom we come in all grades of the staff.

The t.i.tle of scribe was of no particular value in itself, for everyone was a scribe who knew how to read and write, was fairly proficient in wording the administrative formulas, and could easily apply the elementary rules of book-keeping. "One has only to be a scribe, for the scribe takes the lead of all," said the wise man. Sometimes, however, a talented scribe rose to a high position, like the Amten, whose tomb was removed to Berlin by Lepsius, and who became a favourite of the king and was enn.o.bled.

_V.--The Memphite Empire_

At that time "the Majesty of King Huni died, and the Majesty of King Snofrui arose to be a sovereign benefactor over this whole earth." All we know of him is contained in one sentence: he fought against the nomads of Sinai, constructed fortresses to protect the eastern frontier of the Delta, and made for himself a tomb in the form of a pyramid.

Snofrui called the pyramid "Kha," the Rising, the place where the dead Pharaoh, identified with the sun, is raised above the world for ever. It was built to indicate the place in which lies a prince, chief, or person of rank in his tribe or province. The wors.h.i.+p of Snofrui, the first pyramid-builders, was perpetuated from century to century. His popularity was probably great; but his fame has been eclipsed in our eyes by that of the Pharaohs of the Memphite dynasty who immediately followed him--Kheops, Khephren and Mykerinos.

Khufui, the Kheops of the Greeks, was probably son of Snofrui. He reigned twenty-three years, successfully defended the valuable mines of copper, manganese and turquoise of the Sinaitic peninsula against the Bedouin; restored the temple of Hathor at Dendera; embellished that of Babastis; built a sanctuary to the Isis of the Sphinx; and consecrated there gold, silver and bronze statues of Horus and many other G.o.ds.

Other Pharaohs had done as much or more; but the Egyptians of later dynasties measured the magnificence of Kheops by the dimensions of his pyramid at Ghizel. The Great Pyramid was called Khuit, the "Horizon," in which Kheops had to be swallowed up, as his father, the sun, was engulfed every evening in the horizon of the west. Of Dadufri, his immediate successor, we can probably say that he reigned eight years; but Khephren, the next son who succeeded to the throne, erected temples and a gigantic pyramid, like his father. He placed it some 394 feet to the south-west of that of Kheops, and called it Uiru the Great. It is much smaller than its neighbour, but at a distance the difference in height disappears. The pyramid of Mykerinos, son and successor of Khephren, was considerably inferior in height, but was built with scrupulous art and refined care.

The Fifth dynasty manifested itself in every respect as the sequel and complement of the Fourth. It reckons nine Pharaohs, who reigned for a century and a half, and each of them built pyramids and founded cities, and appear to have ruled gloriously. They maintained, and even increased, the power and splendour of Egypt. But the history of the Memphite Empire unfortunately loses itself in legend and fable, and becomes a blank for several centuries.

_VI.--The First Theban Empire_